Reading 1, Isaiah 41:13-20

¹³ For I, Yahweh, your God, I grasp you by your right hand; I tell you, 'Do not be afraid, I shall help you.'

¹⁴ Do not be afraid, Jacob, you worm! You little handful of Israel! I shall help you, declares Yahweh; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ Look, I am making you into a threshing-sledge, new, with double teeth; you will thresh and beat the mountains to dust and reduce the hills to straw.

¹⁶ You will winnow them and the wind will carry them off, the gale will scatter them; whereas you will rejoice in Yahweh, will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷ The oppressed and needy search for water, and there is none, their tongue is parched with thirst. I, Yahweh, shall answer them, I, the God of Israel, shall not abandon them.

¹⁸ I shall open up rivers on barren heights and water-holes down in the ravines; I shall turn the desert into a lake and dry ground into springs of water.

¹⁹ I shall plant the desert with cedar trees, acacias, myrtles and olives; in the wastelands I shall put cypress trees, plane trees and box trees side by side;

²⁰ so that people may see and know, so that they may all observe and understand that the hand of Yahweh has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

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Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 145:1, 9, 10-11, 12-13

¹ [Hymn of Praise Of David] I shall praise you to the heights, God my King, I shall bless your name for ever and ever.

⁹ Yahweh is generous to all, his tenderness embraces all his creatures.

¹⁰ All your creatures shall thank you, Yahweh, and your faithful shall bless you.

¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of your kingship and tell of your might,

¹² making known your mighty deeds to the children of Adam, the glory and majesty of your kingship.

¹³ Your kingship is a kingship for ever, your reign lasts from age to age. Yahweh is trustworthy in all his words, and upright in all his deeds.

Gospel, Matthew 11:11-15

¹¹ 'In truth I tell you, of all the children born to women, there has never been anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

¹² Since John the Baptist came, up to this present time, the kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking it by storm.

¹³ Because it was towards John that all the prophecies of the prophets and of the Law were leading;

¹⁴ and he, if you will believe me, is the Elijah who was to return.

¹⁵ Anyone who has ears should listen!

May 2013

June 2013

The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. It has the imprimatur of Cardinal George Basil Hume.

Like its predecessor, the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) version is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic." The 1973 French translation, the Bible de Jerusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." Introductions and notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jerusalem.

Source: The Very Reverend Dom (Joseph) Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a biblical scholar. He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. "New Jerusalem Bible, Regular Edition", pg. v.

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